SINGAPORE (March. 27, 2013)
Glory Sports International (GSI), the parent company of the world’s new premiere kickboxing league, GLORY World Series, today announced that Simon Rutz 
, the founder and former owner of IT´S SHOWTIME the world championship kickboxing league that GSI purchased in October, has officially stepped down from his role as a consultant to GLORY and retired from the kickboxing business.
“It’s been a phenomenal run and I have so many incredible memories from the time I’ve spent in this great sport,” said Simon Rutz , who launched IT´S SHOWTIME in 1999 with an event at Kennemer Sportcenter in The Netherlands 
and promoted his 60th and final event in Sao Paulo, Brazil 
on Nov. 10, 2012.
“I am looking forward to watching many of the fighters we built at IT´S SHOWTIME continue their careers in the GLORY ring where the competition is the fiercest in the entire kickboxing universe.”
During his tenure in the sport, Simon Rutz promoted a multitude of kickboxing superstars including top-ranked heavyweights Daniel Ghita and Tyrone KING OF THE RING Spong and lightweight (154 pounds/70 kilograms) contender Robin POKERFACE van Roosmalen, all of whom have since become GLORY competitors.
“strong>Simon built a very strong enterprise with IT´S SHOWTIME, and fans worldwide demonstrated a sincere enthusiasm for his product, so GLORY was fortunate to have the opportunity to acquire the company and place all of its world-class fight talent under the GLORY umbrella to form the most powerful roster in the history of kickboxing, ” said GLORY CEO Andrew Whitaker: “strong>We wish Simon all the best with his future endeavors and thank him for his contributions to the sport.”
GLORY returns to the big stage with a star-studded event at Ülker Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, April 6, headlined by a long-awaited rematch between world No. 2 ranked Daniel Ghita (46-8, 35 KOs) of Romania and world No. 3 ranked Gökhan THE REBEL Saki (79-16, 55 KOs) of The Netherlands . The winner will receive a shot at reigning GLORY Heavyweight Champion Semmy SAM Schilt.
On Saturday, April 20, GLORY heads to the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, Italy with another stacked card headlined by a meeting between world No. 1 lightweight (70 kilograms/154 pounds) Giorgio Petrosyan (75-1, 35 KOs) of Italy and fellow superstar Hafid El Boustati (67-7-3, 18 KOs) of The Netherlands .
On Friday, May 3, GLORY returns to Tokyo, Japan with a one-night, eight-man featherweight (65 kilograms/143 pounds) ‘Slam’ tournament that will award a total of $180,000 in prize money, including a grand prize of $100,000 to the winner. Confirmed for battle in the single-elimination affair at Ariake Coliseum thus far are three-time French kickboxing champion Abdellah Ezbiri (32-6, 11 KOs) of Morocco via France, world Muay Thai champion Mosab THE JAGUAR Amrani (48-7-4, 14 KOs) of The Netherland and KO artist Marcus Vinicius of Brazil .
About GLORY:
The GLORY World Series is the world’s premier martial arts stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe and offering up to $1,000,000 in prize money to the winners of 16-man ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments, which are open to only the best fighters in each weight class. The fight series also includes 8-man ‘Slam’ tournaments and events with traditional, single bouts.
With television deals spanning every continent, plus a groundbreaking online video streaming system and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations.
Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Tokyo, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel includes a diverse mix of award-winning hedge-fund and private equity investors; principals from pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia; and senior level executives from several leading sports franchises, including WWE, FIFA, Golden Glory, Champions League and It’s Showtime.
Source: 
Glory World Series
Mike Afromowitz
Website: Glory World Series / No:37
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